Stella Price
Stella Price (previously Munro) is the mother of Eva Price and Leanne Battersby and was formerly the landlady of the Rovers Return Inn as well as the grandmother of Oliver Battersby and Susie Price. Born to Gloria Price, Stella became a mother in 1981, aged just eighteen after giving birth to Leanne. However, she soon got tired of life with Les and decided that she and Leanne would be happier away from him. She left him briefly to get somewhere for her and Leanne but when she returned, Les and his mother, Betty, refused to let Stella see Leanne and Stella didn't see her daughter again for thirty years. In that time, she gave birth to another daughter; Eva seven years later, and started dating taxi driver Karl Munro. Stella and Karl came to Weatherfield after Steve McDonald hired her to manage the Rovers and Eva soon followed. She was later discovered to be Leanne's birth mother. Leanne took a while to accept Stella but eventually came round, as Stella saved Leanne's life twice and when Stella was run over by Carla Connor, Leanne blamed herself. Following Carla's rape ordeal at the hands of Frank Foster, Stella confided in her and revealed that she had been raped by a regular of a previous pub that she ran. She was also later cheated on by Karl with her friend Sunita Alahan. She soon embarked on a relationship with builder Jason Grimshaw, who was twenty years younger than her. After a blazing fire in the Rovers that almost claimed Stella's life, she and Jason split up. She later reconciled with Karl after he saved her life but was unaware that he was the arsonist who started the fire in an attempt to frame Jason, as he was working on the fusebox in the cellar at the time. Stella was upset to realise that Sunita had passed away, believing the fire to be the cause, although it was really Karl who dislodged her breathing tube as she lay in intensive care. Karl and Stella then decided to get married. Shortly after their wedding, Karl hit Sunita's widower Dev Alahan with a bottle when he discovered that Karl caused the fire. He confessed that he murdered Sunita a few months prior and Stella was briefly held hostage by him. Karl then decided to release Stella and was soon arrested for arson and murder. Following Karl's arrest, Stella filed for divorce, sold the Rovers to its previous owner Steve McDonald and moved into 13 Coronation Street. She spent the next few months working as a waitress at Nick's Bistro, but after Jason and Eva began a relationship, she decided to move to New York City for a fresh start away from Weatherfield. Biography When Stella was a teenager, she was in a relationship with Les Battersby and fell pregnant with his child and gave birth to a little girl. Les wanted to name his daughter Betty (after his mother) but Stella named her Leanne. Les and Stella were in a happy relationship until Les started drinking heavily and neglected Stella and Leanne. A lonely Stella left Les and her daughter because she couldn't cope. However, she later returned to get her baby back but Les and his mother refused to let her see Leanne, leaving Stella heartbroken. In 1988, she had a second daughter, Eva. Stella later began running pubs across the country. When she was running a pub in Warrington, she held lock-ins for the locals, and one night, whilst closing up, a customer threatened to tell her boss what she had been up to. Stella was raped by the customer after refusing to have sex with him. However, she chose not to go to the police because she felt it was her fault.﻿ Stella was given a job as manager of the Rovers Return Inn by Steve McDonald after impressing him the most compared to the other applicants. Tracy Barlow however was none too pleased about this, as she thought Steve had promised her the vacancy instead. Stella started her first shift the next day, and her down-to-earth nature seemed to appeal to both the staff and the customers. Steve had also allowed Stella a room at the Rovers as part of her conditions of her taking on the job. He did not however expect first her partner Karl Munro and then her daughter Eva to move in also. Nevertheless, he agreed (although he didn't really have much choice). A week into her tenure, Steve headed away for a few days for his birthday leaving Stella solely in charge. Matters were made messy though when Steve's estranged wife, Becky, moved back into the Rovers and declared herself in charge. When Steve later returned, he found the pub completely trashed and a window smashed as a result of a brawl breaking out. Blaming Stella, he sacked her on the spot, but later calmed down and realising what his volatile spouse was like, asked Stella to stay on, which she agreed to do. Stella seemed to take quite a keen interest towards Leanne and jumped to her defence on several occasions be it a row between Leanne and Eva or even tackling an armed robber in Barlow's Bookies. Because of this, Leanne's husband Peter started to become suspicious of Stella - even more so when he spotted a picture of his wife in the landlady's purse. When confronted, Stella revealed that she was Leanne's mother. With her 30th birthday approaching, Stella wanted to make amends to her secret daughter, and begged Peter not to say anything just yet. He agreed, but for Leanne's sake. However, Eva began to think there might be something going on between her mother and the married bookie after catching the pair sharing a secret conversation in Roy's Rolls. That night, Leanne celebrated her 30th birthday with a surprise party held at the Rovers. While the celebrations were taking place, in the pub's back room Eva demanded to know what exactly was going on between Stella and Peter. He in turn told Stella that the time had come for her to reveal all to Leanne - with the lady herself walking in at that precise moment. When Leanne rejected her and refused to believe her reasons for her disappearing act, Stella planned to leave Weatherfield. However, Peter managed to stop her by accusing her of abandoning Leanne for the second time. Over the next few weeks, Stella continued to make amends with both of her daughters. She supported Leanne when she suffered a miscarriage after falling down a set of stairs and took Eva out for some "retail therapy" and supported Carla Connor through her rape ordeal due to her own experience. She wasn't pleased when Peter cheated on Leanne, so threatened Carla and doubted she got raped as she previously lied about who ran her over. She left in Weatherfield in April 2014 after a failed relationship with Dev Alahan and went to Manhattan, New York. In February of the following year, Jason planned on a surprise trip to visit Stella with Eva, however this was averted when the pair split after Todd manipulated Jason into believing Eva was having an affair with his father Tony. In July 2016, Eva saw her mother when she went away on a two week break to France. Background information *Michelle Collins was added to the cast of Coronation Street as Stella to coincide with the departure of previous Rovers landlady Liz McDonald. Soon after, it was announced that Stella would be revealed as Leanne Barlow's biological mother. *Soon after Stella's arrival, Collins was criticised for her broad northern accent and dialect, however producer Phil Collinson declared that he would not be toning it down as he preferred it. *The character was credited for the first time as "Stella Munro" in Episode 8211 (11th September 2013) when she got married to Karl Munro, however reverted to her original surname of Price on Episode 8214 (16th September 2013) after Karl's downfall and exit aired during the previous episode. First and last lines "If you wanna ask her out, ask her out. All this innuendo, you sound like Austin Powers." (First line, to Tommy Duckworth, concerning Tina McIntyre). --- "Oh I erm... I forgot this. Look after her, eh?" (Final line) See also *Full list of appearances Category:Coronation Street characters Category:2011 debuts Category:1963 births Category:Rovers residents Category:Rovers barmaids Category:Rovers licensees Category:Price family Category:Residents of 13 Coronation Street Category:Nick's Bistro staff Category:Cleaners Category:2013 marriages Category:2014 departures Category:Publicans Category:Rovers owners